Podcast: Swastika Sex

Lost Tribe Podcast - Ep. 15: Swastika Sex

In this episode the boys replace one of their own with actual real live girls!  Unfortunately the conversation gets too weird and gross and the girls don't end up saying much.  Oh well, we tried!  This episode has lots of weird fetish (furry), Nazi (school children), and what happens to metal superstars when they smoke themselves into oblivion (Down).

Get it on iTunes or here.

Review: Enemy Insects - Live to Die

Enemy Insects

Live to Die (Demo Track)

Tracklisting:

1. Live to Die


This will be a short review because I'm only reviewing one song.  Now, I know there is technically precedence for this on this blog for reviewing a single song (see our rambling review of Propagandhi's track "Failed States"), but this is less about salvating for a much-anticipated release from a favourite band and more about trying to give everyone a heads up about a sweet new band.

Baltimore's Enemy Insects have released their first demo track (of what I assume are many more demo and non-demo tracks to come) called "Live to Die".  It's fast, thrashy, metallic without straying too far from hardcore, and it has a fucking fanstastic chorus riff. The vocals sound diabolical as fuck, and fit perfectly with this frantic/schizophrenics type of hardcore.  All in all, it is highly recommended and should be check out by anyone who is looking for an up-and-coming band that is bound to continue to impress.  And hey, if you are a douche you should listen to it so that you can go around later and talk about how into these guys you were back when they put out their first demo track.

Also, Bandcamp needs to get a volume knob.....my computer volume was cranked as the first notes of this song almost liquified my eardrum (in a non-hyperbolistic bad way).  Not Enemy Insect's fault, but still, it fucking hurts.

Listen and enjoy!

Review: Pick Your Side - Snakes and Ladders

Pick Your Side

Snakes & Ladders

RSR/Hate Ape Productions

Tracklisting:

1. Thru Veins

2. Bleeding Out

3. This is Not a Test

4. Throne of Privilege

5. But Wait!!

6. Don’t Cry (Neil Young cover)

7. Snakes and Ladders

When Pick Your Side started putting out music last year, I was simply relieved that something violent, angry and Haymaker-esque was coming out of Hamilton again.  Beyond that, I honestly didn’t expect much, let alone steady output and even semi-regular gigs to attend.  Fortunately, the boys in PYS seem to have some momentum behind them because they are back with their second 7”, and from what I understand, will be recording a 2^nd LP for A389 in the not-too-distant future.  

This offering, Snakes and Ladders, picks up where Survival Prayer and Let Me Show You How Democracy Works left off.  The first four tracks offer up the same vitriolic, thrashy hardcore that they have become known for, and don’t away from subject matter ranging from betrayal (“Picture your life as a knife fight and you just got stabbed in the guts”) to middle class privilege (“...point blame in protest in the words you sing your bullshit songs, won’t change a thing.”). 

The next couple tracks, “But Wait!!” and “Don’t Cry” reveal the metal/sludge roots that this band also has.  “But Wait!!” is a nice mix of hardcore and metal, which just adds a dynamic element to the record that is welcomed, but “Don’t Cry” might take a little for some PYS fans to get used to.  Why, you ask?  Because it’s a droning, sludgy Neil Young cover that clocks in at over 7 minutes.  Yup, you heard me right.  I really enjoyed it from the 2^nd listen onwards (I was a bit too thrown off by it at first), and love that this band truly doesn’t seem to care what anyone thinks of them or what they should be doing.

You can’t buy it yet (unless you go to one of their shows on their European tour or at Not Dead Yet Fest in Toronto), but you can listen to it here.

Review: Frost Giant - When Myth and History Merged Into Mystery

Frost Giant

When Myth and History Merged Into Mystery

Blasphemour Records

You know what the hardest part of this whole review blog thing is? Every once in a while I stumble on a record that I love but have no earthly idea how to translate into actual, human language WHY I love it. Such is the case with this Frost Giant record.

Oh, Norse God of Snow & Bloodshed! Where to begin with this fucking thing?

Actually, I'm just gonna start with the "FFO" bands from the Blasphemour website: "Ensiferum, Korpiklaani, Lagwagon, NOFX, Lifetime & Finntroll." If your eyes narrowed suspiciously at that list, you're not wrong. I can assure you though, they're not just being smart asses. There are traces of all of those bands running through all 5 tracks on this EP. And you know what? It works. Brilliantly, in fact.

It probably shouldn't. I mean, realistically, mixing Fat Wreck skate punk with Finish Folk Metal is the sort of thing that people come up with after mixing pills and booze... 'cause they clearly don't make the best "mixing" decisions. But then realize in the cold grey light of morning that it wouldn't have worked anyways. Best to just move on.

I'm not sure what manner of dark sorcery it took to concoct this record. There is some profound and arcane alchemy at work here. The trick as near as I can tell is that the band never takes the easy way out by being one thing and THEN something different. Instead, they pour the elements together in such a way that they compliment each other and add up to something new and different. The second track, "A Common Son," manages to compliment 90's skate punk style drumming with occasional blast beats. Simultaneously, the band brings in hardcore gang vocals to balance a clean, melodic soaring folk or power metal style chorus.

I'm seriously not doing this record justice. Honestly, I really just think it needs to be heard.

Let me put it this way: We've mentioned before that there are a few different reviewers on this site. And that our tastes vary from pop punk end of the spectrum all the way to the grindcore side of things. I'm not the metalhead here. Everything I know about metal can be, and probably has been, airbrushed onto the side of panel van in Oxnard, California. But, I'm head over fucking heels for this record.

It's honestly just a fun piece of work, and I can't remember the last time I heard metal that I thought was straight up fun.

Which reminds me! The last track here is an Adele cover. And it's fucking awesome.

Top 5 of the year. No joke.

Buy This! (C'mon... It's like 3 Bucks!)

Podcast: Lost Tribe - Ep. 14: The One Where Clint Eastwood Ruins Everything

Lost Tribe Podcast - Ep. 14: The One Where Clint Eastwood Ruins Everything

In this episode the boys get hard over British TV/movies before becoming depressed/angry/confused about Clint Eastwood's conversations with an invisible president.  Goddammit Dirty Harry, why?

Get it here or on iTunes!

Review: Pig Destroyer - Book Burner

Pig Destroyer

Book Burner

Relapse Records

Tracklisting:

1.   Sis   
2.   The American's Head   
3.   The Underground Man   
4.   Eve   
5.   The Diplomat   
6.   All Seeing Eye   
7.   Valley Of The Geysers   
8.   Book Burner   
9.   Machiavellian   
10.  Baltimore Strangler   
11.  White Lady   
12.  The Bug   
13.  Iron Drunk   
14.  Burning Palm   
15.  Dirty Knife   
16.  Totaled   
17.  Kamikaze Heart   
18.  King Of Clubs   
19.  Permanent Funeral

There are times when writing for this blog can be challenging.  We like to pump out reviews on a fairly regular basis, but since we have a what’s-the-point-of-ragging-on-an-album-you-don’t-care-about policy, it can sometimes be daunting to find albums that a) we enjoy, and b) that motivate to want to say something about them.  Fortunately, this summer and fall has been a boon for us, with album after album of incredible material, from Burning Love to Masked Intruder to Propagandhi, etc. etc.  It seemed to be getting too good to be true and I was somewhat worried that the last couple months of 2012 would be relatively slow in the review department.

And then Pig Destroyer put out an album.

For anyone not familiar with this Virginia-based quartet, they need to familiarize themselves with these giants of grind immediately.  Guitarist Scott Jull and company have long been known for producing some of the most inventive, genre-bending, mind-destroying grindcore this side of Napalm Death.  Everyone in metal seems to expect the world from each new Pig Destroyer release (especially after the bands last LP - 2007’s critically-acclaimed Phantom Limb), and Book Burner does not disappoint.  Shying away from the Phantom Limb’s lengthier song times, this record scarcely has a song over three minutes, with several scorchers clocking in well under one minute.  Songs like “The American’s Head” and “Book Burner” demonstrate that this band is still the force to be reckoned with that they were five years ago.  Furthermore, the ‘longer’ (re: 3 minute) tracks like “Baltimore Strangler” and “The Bug” are easily some of the best songs on the album.  In fact, I can honestly say that I haven’t heard a better metal song than “Baltimore Strangler” this year.  So there.

This album’s soul-crushing heaviness is further augmented by the drumming of newcomer Adam Jarvis (Misery Index) and guest vocals from Jason Netherton (Misery Index) and Kat of Agoraphobic Nosebleed fame (although it’s not fair to call them ‘guest vocals’...as she is the sole vocalist on “Eve”...so let’s call her a ‘Temporary Vocalist’ or something), which help add a depth and variation to Book Burner that is always welcomed.

Some reviewers have been complaining that Book Burner has strayed too far from the band’s last offering, and are lamenting the lack of opus-length tracks that the band has become known for, but I find this ridiculous, as I have no desire to hear Phantom Limb-part 2.  While some (most) grind bands are perfectly happy hashing and rehashing the same riffs/songs/everything on each album, Pig Destroyer has always proven that just because you play extreme music doesn’t mean it always has to sound the same.  

Book Burner stands on its own as an incredible piece of music, it’s that simple.  It is crushing, but not overwhelming.  It is frantic, but not rushed.  It is well-thought-out, but not overwrought.  And most importantly, it’s fucking Pig Destroyer...with the guy from Misery Index drumming!  Fuck yes!

Buy it here.

Lost Tribe Podcast: Episode 13 - Propagandhi, Fan Expo, and X-Files

Lost Tribe Podcast: Episode 13 - 

Propagandhi, Fan Expo, and X-Files

In this episode the boys continue to discuss the greatness of Propagandhi before moving onto a recap of this year's Fan Expo (re: Gathering of the super nerds) in Toronto.  Lost Tribe's own Mike recounts his time working at Fan Expo and what it's like to get boners over girls dressed like cartoon characters.  Finally, each member takes his turn recounting his favourite X-files episode.

Get it on iTunes or here.